


What You Wouldn't Do

by LunarTea



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Underswap, Angst, Dismemberment, Gen, Genocide Route, Gore, Pacifist Route, Resets, Soul Abuse, Violence, but not for long
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-21
Updated: 2017-08-21
Packaged: 2018-12-18 03:59:16
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11866230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LunarTea/pseuds/LunarTea
Summary: Chara sees the error of their ways and decides it's high time that they change for the better. But children change their minds all the time if they're bored of the familiar.





	What You Wouldn't Do

Papyrus found himself sighing, turning away from the fifth time he’d witnessed his brother’s head get hacked off. He didn’t need to spare a glance to know the source of the brittle crunch, the hiss of air and dust soiling the once-pure snow, the footprints that carried their uninterested owner off toward Snowdin. He didn’t want to keep burning the image in his head, it would just be erased anyway with the next Reset. So the kid was bored, so what? Sans will be back. He always comes back.

 

_(He silently prayed that nothing would change that.)_

 

He shuffled over, scooping the bright blue bandana from the snow and tied it loosely to his arm, hand freezing mid-air when he realized he was about to brush the leftover dust from it. He brought it back down, a sigh drifting through his teeth before he wandered on to meet the kid at the typical spot. Any minute now, this all would be just a bad dream.

 

* * *

 

 

The Floweys were wiped out before Papyrus could catch up to the little shit. They knew what they were doing by now, it shouldn’t have surprised him.

 

* * *

 

Napstaton’s sparking limbs crashed to the floor. The human continued on their way like nothing had happened.

 

* * *

 

 

Anxiety grated at his nerves. Or they would have, if he had any to begin with. He would have chuckled to himself, if the air hadn’t been thick with the dust of his friends. He didn’t even want to think about how the birds or flowers were doing at this point, they’d probably been obliterated had they shown any signs of life around this monster. They gave monsters a bad name. Weren’t monsters the demons of the surface anyway? He shook his head. Now wasn’t the time.

 

The tapping of battered shoes on polished floor echoed in the hallway. The human had arrived. His body tensed, hidden in the shadows of the pillar. He hadn’t fought them before, so he doubted they could pull a fast one on him, given the adrenaline rushing through his soul. Their eyes bore into his, half-lidded with what looked like boredom. Papyrus wasn’t sure whether he should be pissed or terrified that they could be _bored_ given that they’d slaughtered everyone in their path without missing a beat. They were what, maybe ten years old at the very latest in human years? That little shit should be scared for their life after falling into a pit of deadly monsters. They should be fully aware of what they were doing was wrong, wrong, wrong…

 

Right?

 

He stepped out from behind his cover as they passed the first pillar. Their movement halted, their eyes trained on his face. Papyrus folded his arms, staring long and hard at the murderer. The knife caked with dust glinted sinisterly in their small hand.

 

“you’ve been busy, huh?” The skeleton stated, his voice filling the empty void of silence in the hall. The human said nothing, their grip adjusting on the weapon they held. He tried his best not to flinch from the object of so many nightmares of so many resets.

 

“it’s not cool to run around murderin’ monsters, you know? definitely not ones you befriended before.” Something glimmered in their eyes…did they remember the Resets too? The anomaly had been awfully busy the last few…weeks? Months? He’d lost track of time. Either way, maybe this kid was the anomaly. It would make sense, with them predicting each monster’s attack before they even struck with it. Alphys had never been more pissed off that her ass was getting handed to her, by a _human child_ of all things, and she swore up and down they were psychic or something, because how else would they have known all of her attacks and maneuvers?

 

Chara stepped forward. He stood his ground, eye sparking with tangerine smoke. Magic burned through his bones, readying for the fight that could very well lead to his own death. He was a pathetic 1 HoPe monster, but he’d be damned if he didn’t try to stop them from getting to Asgore and really fucking things up.

 

“look, kiddo. i’ll give you one last chance to change your mind. you’re pretty fuckin’ sick if you think all this is just a fun game.” His voice dropped to a dangerously low growl. “if you take one more step, you’re gonna have a bad time. i can promise you that.” Orange wisps wafted from his eye more strongly, the familiar heat flaring up at his fingertips. The bones were ready to summon, the blasters were itching to appear. The kid just watched him with a blank expression still, his arms dropping to his sides.

 

The child took another step forward and started into a dead sprint right at him. He snatched a sharpened bone construct out of the air, blasters crackling into existence and charging energy in their open maws with a deafening roar. Chara held the knife out to their side, giving a harsh twist to their torso to bring the blade around. Papyrus frantically flung bones from the floor, the walls, the air, anything he could produce them from. The blasters fired, they ducked and dodged almost gracefully around the attacks. Papyrus was getting pissed. The murderer closed in. He jumped a step back to put some more distance between them, but his shoe slipped on the slick surface and he crashed to the floor on his back. His spine immediately spiderwebbed with pain, he tried to ignore it and forced himself up at least to a sitting position, swinging his arms around wildly to throw bones and blasters every which way to at least hold them at bay as he struggled to stand. His breath shook, eye lights shrinking to pinpoints when the child appeared in his face, knife raised and at the ready.

 

_oh no, oh no no nononononofuck—_

 

He threw his arms up to deflect the incoming slash, eyes squeezed shut out of panic. There was a metallic clatter on the floor and a tight weight pressed against him. He dared to sneak a peek.

 

There they were, _hugging_ him with their face buried into his hoodie. The blade that they once held glinted in the choked sunlight filtering in from halfway across the room.

 

_what the fuck?_

 

Their ruby eyes peeked out from around his sleeves, misted over with what seemed to be tears welling up. Their fists weakly gathered the orange fabric in front of them, pulling it up to dab at the corner of their eyes that wouldn’t quite meet his gaze. He wasn’t sure what to think. Were they putting up an act to make him lower his guard? Did they want to get dunked on? Little shit had another thing coming if they thought he was easy prey falling for a stunt like this…

 

Then again, what did it matter if he was dusted? Everyone else was already gone. There was no one left for them to destroy, save for Toriel and the Temmie that kept popping up out of nowhere and causing trouble. He lowered his arms, resting them at his sides. Nothing really mattered anymore, not since Sans was taken from him. At least if he died, he’d be able to see his little bro again.

 

Chara withdrew their trembling hands from his hoodie, fingers curling awkwardly and jittering left and right. Papyrus cocked a brow bone at them, not giving it too much thought. For all he knew, they were trying to give him the middle finger. They inhaled a deep breath and held it for a few heartbeats, letting it out and waving their hands around more confidently.

 

 _I’m sorry_ , they signed, puffy eyes trained on him.

 

“you? sorry. for…what, exactly? casually massacring every living creature you could find?” His voice was dull, uncaring. He was growing bored waiting for them to kill him, and a small portion of him hoped that they’d just hurry up and bore him to death. Heh.

 

 _I didn’t mean to_. The skeleton couldn’t help but snort. Yeah, like it was a total accident. These things happen all the time. It was _totally_ accidental to wipe out an entire race.

 

 _I want to fix this_. This was new. “yeah? and how do you expect to do that?” He retorted, rolling his eyes and settling his back onto the floor and propping his head up with his arms.

 

 _I can bring them back._ “who?” _Everyone._ “an’ i can fly if i just believe in myself. i’m supposed to be the jokester here, kid. you ain’t earnin’ any brownie points with me.” _I can Reset_. “look, kiddo.” He sat himself up roughly, pushing himself to his feet. “i don’t appreciate you jerkin’ my chain around like this. you took away the only thing that mattered to me over and over again, an’ now you can just pretend you’re sorry and that’ll make it okay?”

 

 _Do you want to be with him forever?_ The world came to a standstill. The child’s hollow eyes betrayed their weariness dragging at their body from the unexpected exertion since their fall to the Underground. _I can bring him ba—_

 

A bone pierced their palm mid-sign, tearing a chunk of flesh from the appendage and impaling itself on the pillar next to them. Papyrus’s eye flared dangerously with glee as a pained scream was ripped from Chara’s throat. They clutched their wrist, falling to their knees and curling in on their self while crimson liquid dribbled to the floor beneath them.

 

The skeleton stepped close to them, squatting down. “oh, sorry. does that hurt? i can fix that,” he growled, raising his arm up and gripping the sharpened bone that appeared in his palm. “i can make it go away.” He swung down with all of his might, the needled tip easily sinking through their back and erupting from their stomach to lodge into the floor. The child choked out a startled cough, blood splattering on the smooth surface around the two.Their breath came in shallow strangled gasps, fat tears rolling off their dusty face into the red stains with a disheartened _plip_. They struggled to look him in the eye, shakes wracking their small body mercilessly.

 

“it was just an _accident_ , after all,” he hissed, roughly twisting the jagged edge of the bone. A sick satisfaction swirled in his soul with the sound of the agonized wailing of the murderer beneath him; paired with the groaning of the younger bones fracturing and splintering, it was almost euphoric. “it can be _fixed_ , right?”

 

From the way the light died from Chara’s eyes and the convulsing of their body slowed to a halt, Papyrus could only assume that they were close to the end of their life, if not already past it. He sighed heavily and sat next to their body, the bones dissipating into the polluted air. His hand fished for the pack of cigarettes in his shorts pocket, pulling a cancer stick out and settling it between his teeth. The lighter came shortly afterwards and he watched the flame kiss the tip of the cigarette, the embers somewhat comforting to him. He took a long drag, exhaling before he gave a sideways glance to the body next to him.

 

“i don’t like killin’ kids, you know. i don’t really like killin’ anyone. it’s a shitty feeling. ‘m not sure if you know how that feels, takin’ someone’s life. that was someone’s family member, coulda been a mom or a dad, a sibling, or just a child. they don’t deserve to miss out livin’ their life ‘coz someone hates their own, know what i mean?” Not like they could hear him or anything, anyway. “so if you do come back, if you really are sorry, you won’t kill again.” With the way things were going, he’d have to deal with a lot more Resets before anything like that was promised. “maybe we could have been friends in another time, who knows.” In a timeline where they weren’t a murderer, maybe.

 

The floor crumbled beneath him to sink into the gaping void of consuming black. The walls blurred and followed suit with the golden tiles drawn to the abyss. He took a final drag of the cigarette before pieces of reality fell away into darkness.

 

* * *

  

It was easy to wake up in his own bed in Snowdin, nagged to rejoin the waking world by Sans as though nothing had happened. It was not, however, easy to face the day in fear the human fell once more.

 

* * *

  

Papyrus held his hand out, the whoopie cushion nowhere to be found. Chara raised their hand to shake it as per the scripted events, and as their hands met he gripped theirs tightly. His gaze bore into their face, the intolerance of violence and the promise of a quick death very clearly scrawled on his face.

 

They nodded to him, shook his hand stiffly, and carried on to Sans’s puzzles.

 

* * *

 

Sans stood in Chara’s path. Papyrus hid with the help of the tree’s shadow, staring down the human long and hard.

 

“I, THE MAGNIFICENT SANS, WELCOME YOU WITH OPEN ARMS!!” The smaller skeleton proclaimed loudly, flinging his arms open for presumably a hug.

 

Chara stepped forward, their fingers curling tightly into a fist. Papyrus’s soul slammed in his chest. Well, it was a good try. Magic arced from his fingertips in preparation for the inevitable—

 

—hug? Sans twirled around with the human in his arms, gleefully exclaiming praises and how happy he was to finally have his very first friend! Papyrus was glad for him, but the nightmare of the previous reset was still burning clearly at the front of his mind. How long would they deviate from the usual course of events before they became bored and started their slaughter once more? He turned away from the scene and started walking deeper into the woods. It wasn’t going to last, he could feel it in his bones.

 

* * *

  

Chara showed nothing but mercy when Alphys began their assault. Alphys was hesitantly impressed with their skill in dodging.

 

* * *

 

Each and every Flowey had been pat softly before Chara continued on their way.

 

* * *

 

 

Napstaton received the highest ratings in his career as an entertainer. Chara had walked right on past the knife lying in wait for them.

 

* * *

 

Papyrus didn’t bother to show up at the judgement hall. Instead, he held back in Toriel’s throne room, shortcutting to hide away and watch. It took a while for the human to show up, which was expected considering he’d dared to break the “script” of his life for this one and only timeline. Next reset, he’d be sure to avoid deviating. But for now…

 

He watched as they plead mercy time and time again. Toriel refused each time, resolve visibly breaking as time wore on. Papyrus almost couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Chara, begging to be spared? Playing the role of a pacifist without blood on their hands? This was interesting. It was new…but not necessarily displeasing. Maybe they were keeping their unspoken word after all?

 

Toriel sadly patted the human on their head, stroking their hair affectionately.

 

“I am sure you know what you want to do. No doubt you wish to leave this place if you have gone through so much trouble to get here.” She stepped away from them, sighing quietly. “Beyond this room is the Barrier. Monsters may not traverse beyond it without the absorption of a human soul, it may not be broken without seven…but you have granted us mercy, given your power as a human. I would like to thank you, my child, for bringing no harm to us.”

 

At this, Papyrus scoffed quietly to himself. If only the old goat knew.

 

“But with this, you may leave. I will not stop you—“

 

Chara tugged on their sleeve. Startled, she looked down at them.

 

“My child?”

 

 _I want to stay here._ They signed, determination flickering in their ruby gaze.

 

“Surely you have a family to be with on the surface? Someone that is awaiting your return?”

 

 _My family is here now._ Toriel shook her head in disbelief, maw opening to question their words but hung there when no sounds came out. Papyrus couldn’t believe it either. They were seriously able to get away scott-free but they turned down the opportunity?

 

…of course. They could always pull another Reset, go through the motions, and leave anytime they wanted. The entire Underground was their willing play toy. This was all just a mere game to them, no real lives were lost in their sociopathic “fun time.” He couldn’t help but wish they’d just smiled and nodded, and tried not to let the Barrier hit their ass on the way out.

 

Toriel invited Chara to have tea, and Papyrus slunk away to contemplate what the hell just happened.

 

* * *

 

He woke up to the artificial light streaming in through his window. Last night had been a doozy. He’d had a night terror about the endless killings he’d had to hang back and watch and that alone was enough to keep him awake for hours. Sans was more than concerned, of course, but there was something about the thought of telling his baby brother that the human that had been living with them for a week now had sliced his head off for fun more times than he could count on one hand. He didn’t seem to remember the Resets, so it didn’t feel appropriate to bring it up to him regardless. It would just make him worry, and on top of that, their new “roommate” probably wouldn’t like that kind of information spread around.

 

He would rather not trigger another mass genocide of monsterkind by opening his mouth about things that didn’t _technically_ happen.

 

( _He hoped they wouldn’t after this turn of events_.)

 

* * *

 

After many long, tense months, his unease had melted into acceptance. Life wasn’t so bad when he didn’t have to worry about having a knife in his spine every time he let his guard down. They made a few friends, and even slept over at their houses without any “incidents.” They’d even had a nightmare about their own destructive paths, and had _sobbed_ into his chest as he held them close and murmured to them until they calmed. Oftentimes he’d just let them sleep in the bed with him in case they jolted awake a second time, or they’d wander to Sans’s room for the same comfort.

 

Chara had become obsessed with learning about magic. If it had it in the title, they demanded to know everything that was to know about it. Healing magic, magic that held monsters together, soul magic, fighting magic, even magic that had no real purpose other than to be flashy. If Papyrus was being honest with himself, it was nice to have a breath of fresh air. He taught them what he could, the other monsters of the Underground more than happy to chime in and teach or demonstrate.

 

Of course, it didn’t occur to him that perhaps their intentions might not be as pure as they seemed. Their thirst for knowledge increased, not just about magic, but the Underground as a whole. They wanted to know everything, no matter how petty or insignificant it might have seemed.

 

For instance, the soul is the culmination of a creature’s entire being. Should something happen to that inverted heart shaped organ, it is directly reflected onto its owner. If you put it in a colder setting, their body will grow cold. They will probably shiver, if they are not a monster comfortable with ice. They might even accumulate frost on their body.

 

Papyrus glowered at Chara from the floor, teeth chattering together as the frigid air chilling his soul needled into every inch of his body. The child leaned against the wall nonchalantly, quietly observing him writhe in the center of his own bed. The chains that wove through every available hole in his bones clinked around with what little movement he could muster.

 

“Poor Papy,” they purred, leaning over him with their hands on their knees, “are you _suuure_ you don’t know anything about soul manipulation?”

 

He very well would have told them just where to put their thirst for knowledge, had the lower half of his jaw not been neatly placed on his dresser. Instead, he opted for a very weak lift of his middle finger from behind his back. They just smiled calmly at the display of malice.

 

“I wonder, how many limbs can a skeleton lose until they finally dust?” They mused, putting their finger on their chin in mock contemplation. Papyrus’s eye lights shrank in fear at the implication.

 

Chara turned on their heel and left the room, closing the door behind them and leaving him to his own thoughts.

 

That bastard had betrayed them after so long, they were doing so well, they hadn’t even reset…and to think he trusted them to get close to him even as he slept. They must have faked the nightmares of the murders they’d committed too. Sans had welcomed them into his home with open arms and nothing but good intentions, only to be rewarded by becoming dust scattered in the wind. When he’d found nothing but a dusty bandana, not even a small pile of what used to be his brother…he knew in his gut who was to blame. It could only be one demon cruel enough to take a gift and spit on it.

 

Footsteps thumping up the stairs alerted him to their return. The door opened smoothly, Chara practically skipping in with their hands behind their back.

 

“Since you’ve been _such_ a good boy, I felt like you deserved a little reward. I’d give you a treat, but that would mean allowing you to eat, and we just can’t have that, can we?” They giggled, producing a small badly sewn plush that vaguely resembled his fallen brother. Papyrus wanted to lash out at the insult, the discovery of Sans’s death still being painfully fresh in his mind. He couldn’t even hold a proper funeral for him since the dust was long gone. He struggled just a bit in his bindings, attempting a lunge at the child.

 

“But wait, what’s this?” They held the plush closer to him, fingers pushing around in the back of the object and pulling out a small bag of dust. It wasn’t much, but…

 

“Sansy decided to join us in our fun little game! How fun!”

 

That was Sans’s dust. If his soul wasn’t frozen to the point of threatening to shatter, it probably would have felt a glimmer of happiness at seeing something, _anything_ of Sans’s. He hadn’t felt any positive emotion in so long, not since the familiar blue scarf had been burned to chars in a display of who was boss in this house now. It was all he had left, he thought.

 

“But for all everyone else knows, we’re all sick and quarantined with some Surface disease that’s very infectious and sometimes fatal. I know you like your privacy, Papy, and I know Sansy likes puzzles so do I have the perfect game for you!”

 

The pet names were sickening. If the Core could self destruct and obliterate the entire Underground, now would be a fantastic time to do so. Or a sudden flow of lava from the Surface, if that were possible. Or literally anything that would kill him and free him from this hell. The cold was really distracting him from the will to live, and even dying in his sleep would be preferable to freezing literally to death. Sleep…sleep sounded wonderful…he found himself struggling to keep his eyes open, nodding off as the shivers subsided into a stiff bliss.

 

“Be a good boy and answer my questions, and I give you some more of your cute little brother’s dust!”

 

He snapped to attention. They couldn’t be serious?! This must be a prank. Then again, their entire friendship was a joke from the get-go. He wasn’t sure why, but with nothing left to lose and his soul on the verge of becoming a solid entity of ice, he said fuck it. He’d play their little game.

 

* * *

 

The first game was a test of obedience. They demanded he do tricks like some tame dog beast, flipping around the familiar knife impatiently when he hesitated or refused. The next small pouch of dust was stuffed into “Sansy’s” arm.

 

* * *

 

Sometimes, when Chara retired for the night and he was alone for once in a great while, he could swear that the doll was speaking to him. But then again, that might have been the wind whispering to him. He preferred to think of it as the spirit of his little brother. He wouldn’t go through this torment together.

 

All of Sans’s limbs were plump with dust. For some reason he couldn’t quite put a finger on, it made him happy to see more proof of his brother’s existence. The crude doll helped to guide him through the loss of his freedom and sanity.When his bones were drilled into, when his pain tolerance was tested, when his magic began backfiring—or worse, misfiring—when he’d attempt an attack with the magic suppressors, when his soul was experimented on…his screams sounded like they came from someone else if he just focused long enough on little Sansy.

 

Stars, he was so far gone that he was giving the bribe a pet name…

 

Whatever.

  

* * *

 

Chara locked the front of the house as they exited, the artificial night somewhat calming to them. They made their way quietly to the back, slipping into the door to the basement and trying not to skip steps to get to the bottom. Boy, this sure was thrilling! Exciting! Fun! They’d never felt this happy, this free before! Sure, when they killed, the monsters were at their mercy…but what fun was a dead monster?

 

The skeleton strapped to the chair appeared to be sleeping. Well, that just wouldn’t do. They flicked on the lights, and the monster jolted awake, eyes blearily racing around the room to settle on Chara. He must have been sleeping so well, too.

 

Sleep was for the dead. He’d earn his rest when Papy stopped resisting their will.

 

Sans eyed Chara, a deer-in-headlights look distorting their face in horror as they noticed the little plushie of him in their hands. They noticed where his eyes went, and they grinned.

 

“Papy wants the head to be stuffed next, but that just can’t happen.” They sighed, carelessly tossing the crude plush to the side to run their fingers over his skull. Their fingertips trailed down to his cheekbone, where the harsh scores were carved into his skull as most of his jaw was removed. The troublesome mark still bled from time to time, sadly. Ah, well. A minor inconvenience to the greater plan at work. Chara admired their own handiwork on his scapulae, rubbing a small circle in the marred bone and poking at the harshly splintered bones of where his arms would have been. They didn’t have to look toward his pelvis to see the same state, they had done such a splendid job with Sansy. They were such a good friend, to at least make them somewhat symmetrical!

 

Sans did well not to struggle or flinch away from their touch. He had learned well. He didn’t have much to flinch away with…Chara giggled quietly at the thought. Sans didn’t spare them a glance of curiosity, knowing the impending question (had he been able to speak) would go unanswered. The jagged scratches and pits in his neck bones reminded him to ask nothing.

 

“For once, I want to hear what you think, Sansy,” they murmured almost warmly, leaving his side to cup their hands around his dull soul and turned toward him.

 

“Do you want me to stuff the head or the body next?”


End file.
